White _ OnePress 

The city of El Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan state, is on the brink of a very dangerous phase in the Sudanese war that has been raging since April 2023. Having withstood a prolonged siege and repeated strikes, the city is facing an unprecedented military escalation by the Rapid Support Militia, while the Sudanese army continues to announce operations that targeted its crowds and weakened its offensive capabilities. On the other side, more than half a million civilians are living in a humanitarian situation that is worsening with each passing day.

Strategic Importance: Why White?

It is not possible to understand what is happening without understanding the size of what White represents in the Sudanese equation. The city includes the headquarters of the 5th Infantry Division, one of the most prominent military formations of the Sudanese army, and is a major hub for transport and trade lines linking the states of Kordofan and Darfur to the rest of the country, and hosts the largest market for gum arabic in the world, giving it exceptional economic weight.

Fathi Abu Ammar, editor-in-chief of Al-Wasat newspaper, goes further in appreciating the city’s importance, seeing that White is more important than El-Fasher, being the capital of Greater Kordofan and the border between East and West, and the gum arabic capital with 80% of the world’s production.

Operational Situation: The Sudanese Army's Narrative

The Sudanese army presents the town of El Obeid as a well-established fortress, and describes its recent operations as having succeeded in disrupting militia mobilization and inflicting heavy casualties on the Rapid Support Militia forces.

The spokesman of the armed forces announced that the army and supporting forces continued to carry out successful qualitative military operations in various axes of fighting, and that during the period from June 1, 2026 until the middle of it, they managed to inflict large losses on the rapid support forces and their fighters, and the total of 141 combat vehicles were destroyed, in addition to the killing and wounding of numbers of armed elements and the seizure of quantities of weapons and ammunition.

In details of the operations of the Kordofan axis, the army confirmed that it had spotted a rapid support militia crowd in West Kordofan state consisting of ten tanks and a number of armored vehicles, before it was able to completely destroy the tanks and destroy six armored vehicles and eighteen combat vehicles, with the rest of that force dispersed after suffering casualties.

On the air war front, on June 22, 2026, the Sudanese army launched airstrikes on Rapid Support Militia positions in North and West Kordofan states, as part of repeated operations to disrupt the mobilizations heading towards the city of al-Bayda, and the army carried out concentrated strikes on the areas of Umm Qarfa, Jumbra al-Sheikh, Hamra al-Sheikh, Sordi, al-Khuwi and Umm Habmah, which resulted in the destruction of about 40 combat vehicles with full equipment.

In March 2026, the armed forces announced the recapture of the city of Bara from the militia. The army described the recapture as “a new step in the path of resolution,” stressing that the armed forces “will continue their operations until the entire soil of the homeland is cleared,” while a field source pointed out that the Rapid Support Militia took control of Bara in October 2025 before forcibly displacing most of its population.

However, observers point out that the figures announced by the army require independent verification, as the Rapid Support Militia did not comment on the army’s account, an approach that has been used by both sides since the early days of the war, with neither declaring loss of territory or losses.

Militia Tightens Siege: Mobilization and Marches

In contrast, there is documented evidence that the Rapid Support Militia is escalating its operations around El Obeid in a way never seen before in the conflict, using the drone weapon as a pretext to drain the city’s infrastructure and drain the resilience of its citizens.

The Rapid Support Militia (RSM) pushed unprecedented military reinforcements towards the vicinity of El Obeid in mid-June 2026, and stationed in a number of strategic areas around the city, including al-Nuhud and al-Khawi, in addition to Umm Hakam and Abu Qaoud in the western direction, after moving large numbers of fighters from Darfur and West Kordofan states supported by heavy armored vehicles and combat vehicles.

On the battlefield, the militia launched airstrikes on the city of al-Bayda for five days in mid-June, mainly targeting fuel supplies.

These attacks have extended to the entire critical service infrastructure; The Rapid Support Militia shelled the El Obeid power plant, flooding the city in the dark, and continued to fire on a daily basis, rapidly exacerbating security conditions.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker TKrk, has warned that the increased use of drones has further devastating effects on civilians and civilian infrastructure in the province of Kordofan, noting that the past two weeks have seen dozens of attacks, particularly targeting petrol stations and trucks, resulting in civilian casualties.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has previously warned that this escalation coincides with the control of the Rapid Support Militia over large parts of North Kordofan, with the exception of the localities of Shikan, Umm Rawaba and Al-Rahad, located on the national road between North Kordofan and the White Nile to the capital Khartoum.

The Human Attitude: A City Struggling with the Collapse of Everyday Life

Perhaps the most painful thing about the current white scene is the suffering of civilians, away from the data of operations and the numbers of destroyed vehicles.

El Obeid is a vital commercial and humanitarian hub for the Kordofan region and a major gateway for humanitarian operations in the region. According to international data, the city is home to more than 563,000 civilians and hosts more than 105,000 displaced people who have fled violence in other parts of the country.

In the city’s various neighbourhoods, families were quick to stock up on food, fuel and drinking water, while others withdrew their cash savings for fear of disruption to banking services or electronic payments.

The water crisis is at the top of service disasters. The gap in drinking water is 79%, with about 250 stations shut down due to power outages, and arrangements are being made to provide alternative energy, expand storage facilities and maintain the stations that have been shut down.

In the context of the bread crisis, many bakeries have stopped for lack of fuel, high wheat flour prices and other operating costs.

The Rapid Support Militia continues to target IDP shelters, in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law. The Unified Camp in El Obeid, one of the largest shelters for displaced people, was attacked by drones, killing two people and injuring 17 others, including nine children.

In terms of food security, IOM’s head of mission in Sudan, Mohamed Rifaat, warned that El Obeid could enter a famine phase within a few weeks if the current blockade continues and no safe passages for food aid are opened. The World Food Programme (WFP) said it was making arrangements to store life-saving aid in preparation for a possible wave of up to 250,000 people.

International Alerts and International Silence

The concern was not limited to humanitarian organizations, but extended to the highest levels of the international system and international alliances.

UN Secretary-General Ant▁Antonio.nio Guterres and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker TKrk warned on 18 June of the threat of a new wave of violence against White, calling for immediate action to prevent an imminent attack or further military escalation, and warning of a repeat of what they have documented in El Fasher and the Zam Zam IDP camp.

In a briefing to the Security Council, UN official Rosemary DiCarlo warned that the wider Kordofan region remains the “center of gravity of the conflict,” noting that “the window to avoid a wider escalation is rapidly narrowing,” and warned that any escalation in El Obeid would put hundreds of thousands of civilians at immediate risk of a broad wave of violence.

The Coalition for Atrocities Prevention and Justice in Sudan, which includes the United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Canada and France, along with 21 other countries, issued a statement calling on the Rapid Support Militia to immediately halt their offensive against al-Bayda, expressing concern that 500,000 civilians, including 100,000 displaced people, are at risk of widespread atrocities, as well as denouncing credible reports of ethnically targeted violence, including sexual violence.

White and the Fasher Trap

White seems to be heading in the same direction as El Fasher before, yet there are differences on the ground that warrant contemplation. US official Cameron Hudson described the international community as “paralysed” for its lack of tools of actual coercion and its inability to send peacekeepers, stressing that the centers of power have moved to the countries of the region such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt.

In contrast, some analysts argue that white is not El Fasher. Author and political analyst Abdul Majid Abdul Hamid stresses that al-Bayda is completely safe and more secure than Omdurman, and that the rebels are more than 200 kilometers away, with their supply lines hit.

Summary of testimony

White stands today at the crossroads of destinies. Strategically, economically, and humanitarianly, it constitutes a paradigm shift in the Sudanese conflict, and if it holds, it will represent a turning point that weakens the military momentum of the Rapid Support Militia in Kordofan and Darfur. The bottom line is that more than half a million people are now waiting for the outcome of the coming days, with nothing but empty jars of water and the fear of hearing the next march.